It wasn’t until she was in college that Mystic eye doctor Anish Shah discovered the calming effects of classical music.

“I found that it helped calm my nerves during my studies,” Shah said. Luckily for 400 Norwich youth, Shah’s love of the genre never waned.

Shah, an owner and partner of Norwich Ophthalmology Group, recently donated $1,200 to the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra that will allow hundreds of city children to attend the organization’s Young People’s Concert on Thursday at The Garde Arts Center in New London.

“Four hundred Norwich kids are coming because of him, and I’m absolutely thrilled, because it’s our directive to try and get kids that need be exposed to music exposed to it,” said Isabelle Singer, the orchestra’s executive director. “Norwich has not been able to attend for several years. I kept trying to get money through banks and kept getting turned down.”

Organizers say about 2,200 young people from Groton, Montville, New London, Norwich and other communities will attend one of two performances conducted by Toshiyuki Shimada. Officials have sent study guides to schools ahead of the concerts, which also include an interpretive dance by the Eastern Connecticut Ballet School.

Shah said he was alerted to the funding gap after one of his patients, who is a member of the orchestra’s board, spoke to him.

He has taken part in auctions for the nonprofit in years past, and is known for his support of the arts.

“It’s a very small donation to help a lot of kids,” he said. “It if turns out to be a big boon for them, it may be something the practice and I will always sponsor. It just makes no sense to me for that many kids to be deprived of this for such a small sum.”

Bob Reed, owner of Hall Communications and first vice president of the symphony orchestra’s board, said Shah’s contribution was welcomed.

“It was very generous. Certainly in the times we’re in, a lot of grants and things that we have to cover things like sending school kids to the symphony don’t always come through,” he said. “We were really getting down to the wire.”

Meanwhile, Shah said he is considering joining the symphony’s governing board.